Quote:Boat activists claim Israeli troops were 'brutal'

By Middle East correspondent Anne Barker
Updated 1 hour 37 minutes ago
Israeli soldiers maintain they intercepted the boat peacefully. (Reuters/Israeli Defence Forces)

• Related Story: Libyan aid boat stays on course for Gaza
  
• Related Story: Turks mourn activists killed in raid
  
• Related Story: Israel rejects calls for independent probe
  

Israel's military has again been accused of using brutal tactics to stop a boatload of activists from sailing to Gaza.
The 33-foot Irene is the latest in a string of boats or ships that have tried to break the blockade on Gaza. But what is unusual this time is that most of the activists on board were Jewish.
Israeli troops intercepted the boat on Tuesday (local time). They maintain they did so peacefully and there was no violence of any sort on board.
For 24 hours there was no-one to challenge the claim. The 10 passengers were arrested and taken in for questioning.
But now, after their release from custody, some passengers have told a different story.
"The soldiers were very brutal to us. They didn't kill us like they killed other Palestinians and Muslims, but they were very brutal," Yonatan Shapira, an Israeli who was aboard the Irene said.
Mr Shapira, a former air force pilot who had previously refused to fight in the Palestinian territories, is now an activist with the group Combatants for Peace.
He says he was attacked by Israeli forces when they boarded the boat.
"I got shot with a Taser shock gun and was brutally treated. We were detained pretty violently," he said.
"And later, now we're released, they blame us, they accuse us of attacking the soldiers and threatening the soldiers. It's a complete lie."
A British journalist on board, Vish Vishvanath, told the BBC he was ambushed and almost strip-searched by Israeli troops, who then confiscated his equipment.
The catamaran was carrying what the activists say was a small but symbolic shipment of aid including medicine, children's toys and a water-purifying kit.
But Israel maintains it cannot allow unauthorised ships to dock in Gaza because of the risk they could be smuggling weapons to Hamas, the militant group that seized power in 2007.
Another activist on board, 82-year-old Israeli Holocaust survivor Reuven Moskowitz, has challenged Israel's policies.
"We are talking about 1.5 million people, 800,000 children," he said.
"When I was a child I was imprisoned for five years and I can't forget it. I cannot sleep at night. I have nightmares that have haunted me all my life.
"Do you know what we are doing to these people and what we are doing to our own soldiers?"
The Israeli military won't comment on the activists' accounts, but it has dismissed the voyage as a provocative stunt that has wasted the military's time and resources.
Yigal Palmor, foreign ministry spokesman, defends the interception.
"The boat was warned not to breach the international blockade. It was boarded by the Israeli navy. There was no violence and no incident whatsoever," he said.
The five Israelis on board have been released without charge. Three of the foreign activists have already been deported.